The Food and Drug Administration is facing intense scrutiny after a newly released six-page FDA memo revealed that recently authorized fruit-flavored e-cigarettes are no more effective at helping smokers quit than tobacco-flavored alternatives. This revelation has stirred more questions regarding the agency’s sudden policy shift.

Historically, the FDA has maintained that sweet and fruity flavors appeal to children. To gain approval, manufacturers typically face a high evidentiary hurdle to prove their products benefit public health by helping adults switch while preventing underage use by teens.

While the study showed Glas users were likely to switch from traditional cigarettes, it failed to show “statistically significant differences” between those using mango or blueberry flavors and those using tobacco-flavored vapes. This stands in stark contrast to previous authorizations for menthol products from Juul and NJOY, which successfully demonstrated that menthol helped vapes help adult smokers switch or quit cigarettes more effectively than tobacco flavors.

To justify the approval, regulators argued that Glas’s products did not need to show added adult benefits because they require an age-verifying cellphone app to unlock, supposedly mitigating youth access.

The brief, six-page memo lacks the extensive scientific data typical of past FDA authorizations, sparking backlash from lawmakers. The decision was finalized during the final week of then-FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, who resigned following heavy industry lobbying for relaxed vaping regulations.